The evolution of the social Web is driving fundamental change in how people search, shop for and purchase travel. Once passive consumers of travel information, today's online travelers are content creators and collaborators, posting traveler reviews and actively sharing travel experiences through their social networks. This dynamic online travel ecosystem – interactive and increasingly immersive – affects the websites people visit, the travel products and services they purchase, where they stay, and even how they feel about a particular travel experience.

PhoCusWright's Social Media in Travel 2011: Traffic, Activity and Sentiment examines the role and impact of social media and content on the online travel ecosystem. Created in partnership with Circos, Compete and Travelport, this report focuses on how social media influences the major online travel categories, and highlights the implications for travel companies. PhoCusWright's Social Media in Travel 2011: Traffic, Activity and Sentiment includes:

• Influence of online social features on online travelers from 2008 – 2010
• Extensive analysis of the "social travel category," organized around traveler review sites, hotel review pages of online travel agencies and travel blogs (including blog networks and large individual blogs)
• Traffic, referral and conversion analysis of more than 50 "social travel category" websites in relation to the OTA and hotel supplier website categories from 2008 – 2010
• Cross-visitation, referral and conversion analysis from general social networks (e.g., Facebook and Twitter) to hotel supplier websites and OTAs
• Evolution of social travel guides, and examination of the role of the social graph in trip planning and travel product selection
• Detailed analysis of nearly 2.9 million traveler reviews posted on social travel websites from 2008 – 2010, representing more than 26,000 U.S. properties of 65 leading hotel brands. Discussion covers:
  • Volume and share of traveler reviews on OTA vs. traveler review sites, and how this has evolved from 2008 – 2010
  • Semantic analysis with Circos examining the sentiment of online traveler reviews
  • PhoCusWright's "Buzz" social travel benchmark, which provides a gauge of social travel performance in terms of review volume and activity by hotel star rating
  • Social Travel Advocacy Index (STAI) benchmark, which tracks traveler sentiment over time and across all reviews, and is used to gauge travelers' satisfaction with a particular hotel stay or brand

More than two thirds of online travelers now cite traveler reviews (either on OTAs or traveler review websites) as influential when planning their leisure trips. Knowing how travelers operate in the social Web has become a prerequisite for success in the online travel space. Travel companies that want to leverage this power and potential must develop a clear understanding of how to measure, manipulate and improve their social media performance. Specifically, they need to understand the ways in which traveler reviews, traffic and referrals from social networks, social travel sentiment and the underlying social graph increasingly impact the behavior of online travelers.

Whether it's grasping the online traveler review landscape or tracking referrals from Facebook, travel companies must keep abreast of how social media impacts online traveler behavior. Purchase PhoCusWright's Social Media in Travel 2011: Traffic, Activity and Sentiment to gain the information and tools you need to understand and take advantage of this powerful force in online travel.